Manufacture of bright finish tinned material



Sept. 25, 1934. T. D. WILLIAMS ET AL MANUFACTURE OF BRIGHT FINISH TINNEDMATERIAL Filed Jar 20, 1952 00000000000 00000000000 0 0 O O 0000 O O 000000000000 [mew/Z0219:

fie 4/70/0656.

Patented Sept. 25, 1 934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MATERIALMANUFACTURE OF BRIGHT FINISH TINNED New Jersey Application January 20,

5 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of bright finish tinnedmaterial, such as wire, strip and the like, and has for one of itsobjects the provision of an improved method of an apparatus 5 formanufacturing such material whereby the spotted or water marked surfaceoften formed on the material when produced by the methods heretoforeused is eliminated.

In the methods of manufacture heretofore generally used the hot tinned'material was immersed in a water bath immediately after passing from themolten tin, to set the tin and produce a bright finish; The suddenimmersion of the hot tinned material in the water bath at times when thetemperature is slightly higher than others causes the water to boil orbubble and splash so as to cause particles of water to strike thematerial before it enters the bath. Particles of water striking the hottinned surface 90 cause spots or stains, which are highly objectionable.It has been suggested that the temperature of the hot tinned material beregulated by passing it a considerable distance through the atmosphereprior to entering it into the water bath. This, however, isobjectionable for the reason that the hot tin coating will oxidize ortarnish prior to its entrance into the water bath and, therefore,prevent the formation of a bright finish.

The present method and apparatus provides for regulating the temperatureof the material as it leaves the tinning bath and-prior to its entranceinto the water bath in order to prevent the hot material boiling thewater of the bath.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan of a continuous tinning apparatus constructed inaccordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is a detail elevation taken on the line III-III of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an enlarged elevation of the air cooling chamber or box.

Figure 5 is a. sectional elevation through the 45 air cooling chamber orbox.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary plan of one of the distributing or baflleplates of the air cooling chamber or box as indicated by the line VI--VIof Figure 5.

the letter A designates a bundle of wire which is mounted on the usualpay-off reel B, which reel is free to revolve as the wire is unwound.Several reels B may be located adjacent the end of the apparatus so thatsuccessive bundles of Referring more particularly to the drawing,,

1932, Serial No. 587,832

wire may be joined to form a continuous length of material. The wire orother material is drawn from the reel B through an acid bath in a vat Cand then through a flux bath in a vat D. From the flux bath the materialpasses directly to and through a molten tin bath in a tank or vat E. Asthe wire or other material passes from the tin bath in the tank E it isdrawn through a wipe F of any standard construction, which removessurplus tin from the surface of the material and leaves a thin smoothcoating of tin.

As stated before, it has heretofore-been the practice to pass the hottinned material directly from the tinning bath into and through a waterbath in'order to cool and set the tin coating and provide a brightfinish.

The present invention, however, provides an air cooling chamber or box 0closely adjacent the exit end of the tinning bath through which thefreshly or hot tinned material is passed and cooled to a temperaturebelow that at which it will cause a boiling or bubbling of the water inthe water bath.

The air cooling chamber or box 0 of this invention comprises upper andlower distributing chambers 2 and 3, respectively, and an intermediatework travel chamber 4. The top and bottom walls of the intermediate worktravel chamber are formed from perforated plates 10 which serve asbafiles and cause an even distribution of the air or other gaseous fluidfrom the distributing chambers into the work travel chamber. Thedistributing chambers 2 and 3 are provided with inlet ports 5 and 6,respectively,

which are connected by conduits N with the outlet or blower port of afan L. The fan L is driven by an adjustable speed motor K and is adaptedto draw air from the outside atmosphere through a pipe or inlet M and toforce said air through the pipes or conduits N to the distributingchambers of the cooling chamber or box 0.

As the hot tinned material passes through the travel chamber 4 theforced draft of air or other gaseous fluid through the perforated plates10 cools the material to a temperature below that at which it will causea boiling or bubbling of the water in a water bath. The material ispassed directly from the chamber or box 0 into a water bath in a vat orbosh G which finally cools the coated material to a temperature at whichit will not readily tarnish in the atmosphere. The finally coated andcooled material passes from the water bath in the vat or bosh G througha wipe H of any standard construction and thence to suitable take-upblocks J.

It will be understood that while we have shown and described a specificconstruction and arrangement of apparatus for carrying out the improvedmethod of this application, we do not wish to be limited thereto, sincemany modifications may be made for carrying out the method withoutdeparting from the scope of our invention as defined in the appendedclaims.

We claim:

1. A tinning apparatus for continuously tinning strip and the likecomprising, in combination, a vat containing molten tin, means for wiing the excess tin from the; material as it passes from said vat, acooling chamber adjacent said molten tin in the vat, means for providinga forced draft of gaseous fluid through said cooling chamber to cool thetinned work, and a vat containing water adjacent said cooling chamberand adapted to receive the pre cooled work from said cooling chamber andreduce its temperature to substantially atmospheric temperature,

2. A tinning apparatus for continuously tinning wire, strip and the likecomprising, in combination, a vat containing molten tin, means forwiping the excess tin from the work, a cooling chamber adjacent saidmolten tin vat, means for providing a forced draft of air through saidcooling chamber to cool the hot tinned material to a temperature belowwhich it will cause a boiling and bubbling of water, and a vatcontaining water closely adjacent said cooling chamber and adapted toreceive the pre-cooled work from said cooling chamber and to finallycool the work to a temperature atwhich it will not readily oxidize inthe atmosphere. a i

3. In a tinning apparatus for continuously tinning wire, strip and thelike, a vat containing molten tin and a gaseous fluid cooling boxadjacent said vat and adapted to receive the hot tinned work from saidvat, said cooling box comprising upper and lower fluid distributingchambers and an intermediate work travel chamber, perforated bafileplates forming the top and bottom walls of said work travel chamber andthrough which the gaseous fluid is distributed from said distributingchambers, said fluid dis tributing chambers being each provided withinlet ports, and means communicating with said ports for deliveringgaseous fluid under pressure to said distributing chambers.

4. The method of producing bright finish tinned wire, strip and the likewhich includes passing the material through a bath of molten tin,passing the hot, freshly tinned material through a forced draft ofgaseous fluid to set the coating and cool said material to a temperaturebelow which it will cause aboiling and bubbling of water, and thenimmersing said pro-cooled material in water to finally cool the materialto a temperature at which it will not readily oxidize in the atmosphere.

5. The method of producing bright finish tinned material which consistsin passing the material through a bath of molten tin, then immediatelypassing the hot, freshly tinned material through a forced draft ofair'to set the coating and cool said material to a temperature belowwhich it will cause a boiling and bubbling of water, and thenimmediately immersing said pre-cooled material in water to finally coolthe material to a temperature at which it will not readily oxidize inwater THOMAS D. WILLIAMS. HARLEY C. RALSTON.

